Sebastian Maniscalco doesn’t edit himself.
The comic, who is heading out on his “It Ain’t Right” stand-up tour this summer, says comedy fans are just “dying to laugh.”
“I don’t really edit myself,” he told Fox News Digital. “I would be lying to you if I said, ‘Oh, I don’t know, is it worth doing that joke because it might cause a, b and c?’ There’s a little of that, but I don’t know, I’ve been all over the country and I feel like the people who are coming to at least my shows are dying to laugh whether it be appropriate, inappropriate. I mean, I hate to use the word ‘inappropriate.’”
Growing up, Maniscalco, 50, said in his world “you made fun of everything and anything around you.”
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Sebastian Maniscalco says he doesn’t “edit” himself when he writes his stand-up material. (Jason Kempin/Getty Images for “Nobody Does This Tour”)
“Including your own family and yourself, and it wasn’t done with a mean spirit,” he continued. “It was just kind of pointing out behaviors or idiosyncrasies or oddities that were going on in the neighborhood, and everybody kind of laughed at it.”
The “About My Father” star said he thinks there’s only a “small portion of the population that tends to get bent out of shape in regards to some of the material, and those people tend to have a loud voice.”
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He added, “But I’d say, for the most part, the majority are just looking for an outlet to laugh. And comedians are more popular than ever because I think that’s the only real form of entertainment now that’s going on that’s really unedited and real.”
Maniscalco, whose tour starts in Norfolk, Virginia, on July 11 and finishes on Dec. 15 in Des Moines, Iowa, said he doesn’t look for material for his show as much as it “just finds me, and my antennas are kind of always up, you know, willing to receive it,” he said.
“So, my material tends to be experience-based … I’m out going to Universal Studios. I’m going to the kiddie party. I’m going to school drop-off. I’m doing all these things that just happen to be part of my life. And through those experiences, I tend to have a point of view on what I’m seeing at any particular time during the day.”
The comedian doesn’t worry about people who get “bent out of shape” over jokes. (Jason Kempin/Getty Images for “Nobody Does This Tour)
The comedian said that when you’re “searching” for stand-up material “it never comes.”
“But if you’re just kind of living your life and absorbing what’s happening to you, the humor will kind of almost write itself,” he added.
So what ain’t right?
“I guess it’s just a general disgust with kind of what I see when I leave my house or the experiences that I have, whether it be, you know, whatever, going to Las Vegas or going to the doctor’s office or whatever.”
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He said he will often say things to his wife like, “’This isn’t right.’ You know, we just saw a guy naked walking across the street here in Las Vegas, just butt naked. No clothes there, right? So, you know, there’s just a variety of different things that happen in one’s day that you kind of shake your head and, just, you know, hopefully it becomes material.”
“[Y]ou got to give them a show. Not only the show that I am doing onstage, but what’s around me. It’s not like we’re going to have fireworks and this is Motley Crüe in the ‘80s, but there’s some definite production that’s involved in the show.”
He added, “We’ve added some fabulous production to the tour. And there’s some things I really can’t divulge as far as what we have in store for the fans.
“But I’ve always been someone that likes to present themselves in a manner that it’s show business … you got to give them a show. Not only the show that I am doing onstage, but what’s around me. It’s not like we’re going to have fireworks and this is Motley Crüe in the ‘80s, but there’s some definite production that’s involved in the show.”
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While talking about his toughest critics, Maniscalco said he enjoys making his kids laugh more than anyone else.
“But my toughest credit critic is definitely my father,” he said. “That’s always been, you know, someone who’s been my biggest fan, my biggest critic, my family, you know, in general.”
Sebastian Maniscalco is shown with his wife, Lana, and his parents. (Barry Brecheisen/Getty Images for Lionsgate)
Maniscalco said his sister does editing for him, “and I gave her some tapes to watch from Las Vegas. And she called me up. She goes, ‘You look exhausted in this show.’ Like, there’s no getting a big head in my world.”
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“I have so many people around me that are so honest about what they’re seeing that it’s really hard to get any type of positive momentum in regards to my career. It’s never good enough,” he laughed. “It’s always like, ‘You look this’ or ‘That sucks there.’ Or this, that and the other. But it’s all good.”
The 50-year-old said the best advice he’s gotten from another comedian came early on in his career when Andrew Dice Clay told him not to compare himself with other comics.
“‘The only thing you can concentrate on is your own material,’” Maniscalco said of his advice. “’So, if you see a comedian get a TV show, or you see a comedian selling out arenas or whatever, don’t let that bother you. Don’t let that consume you. The only thing you really have control on is writing your own stuff and being the best you could do at what you’re doing, and your time will come.’”
Sebastian Maniscalco is shown with his wife and their children, Seraphina and Caruso. (Stefanie Keenan/Getty Images for Hammer Museum)
He said he really took Clay’s advice “to heart and just focused on being the best comedian I could possibly be, and hopefully by doing so, I will reap the benefits of that.”
Maniscalco called his recent show with Jerry Seinfeld, Jim Gaffigan, Nate Bargatze at the Hollywood Bowl for the Netflix is a Joke Festival “kind of a unicorn” because he doesn’t “do a lot of shows with other comedians.”
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“In these types of situations, I tend to be kind of a little more laid back when I’m around comedians because comedians are always kind of vying for the spotlight,” he explained.
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He said he was never the class clown in school who would think, “‘I need to talk because I need people to know that I’m funny.'”
With other comedians, he said he tends to be the “quiet” one, “the one who’s kind of observing what’s going on.”
Sebastian Maniscalco is shown with his father, Salvatore, and actor Robert De Niro at the premiere of “About My Father.” (Dia Dipasupil/Getty Images)
He explained, “I like being alone onstage. I don’t really like sharing the stage with other people because I become the introvert. I’m the one where the people are going, ‘This guy is funny,’ and I’m not saying nothing. So … I might have to give some more than I normally give in those situations just because of the company I’m with.”
In addition to his upcoming tour and the Netflix is a Joke show, Maniscalco recently co-starred with Robert De Niro in the 2023 movie “About My Father.”
Maniscalco said the experience was intimidating for him “just because the history I’ve had throughout my life, watching him and all these iconic movies, and then the fact that he was playing my father in a movie that I co-wrote and I was starring in, for me, was a little bit overwhelming.”
He said working with De Niro taught him “a lot about acting.”
“I felt like it gave me the confidence moving forward on other projects to really be a better actor.”
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But he said De Niro wasn’t the chatty type.
Maniscalco says his father, Salvatore, is his biggest fan and critic. (Kevin Mazur/Getty Images for Sebastian Maniscalco’s You Bother Me Tour)
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“As far as, like, kind of commiserating off camera, there wasn’t a lot of that with De Niro,” he added. “Not that he was standoffish, but, you know, he didn’t really engage in a lot of conversation. He kind of – and which I could respect – you know, he was in his own world. He was doing his own thing.”
“If I had a question or a comment or, you know, he was very gracious in speaking with me. But other than that, it’s like people go, ‘Oh, did you guys go out?’ No, we were nine weeks in Alabama, and the only time I saw him was on set.”
Maniscalco’s “It Ain’t Right” tour starts on July 11 in Norfolk, Virginia.